Access™ 2007 VBA Programmer's Reference

22.2. Disabled Mode

If you have opened an existing database in Access 2007, you have probably already seen Disabled mode. It is a new security feature in Access 2007 that prevents certain content in the database from executing. It's designed to let users securely inspect the content of a database without the possibility of running potentially malicious objects. What is a potentially malicious object? Generally speaking, it is any object that can be used to alter database content, the file system, Registry, or network. In Access, this means VBA code, certain types of queries (action queries, SQL Pass-Through, and Data Definition Language), certain macro actions, and ActiveX controls.

If you used digital signatures in Access 2003 you'll recognize this as the list of objects that were signed in Access 2003.

It's pretty easy to notice when code fails to execute. A large piece of functionality in your application doesn't work. As shown in Figure 22-8, the Message Bar is the other way to determine that the database is disabled.

Figure 22.8. Figure 22-8

Unless you change the macro settings, it's worth noting that unless they are digitally signed or in a trusted location, all databases open in Disabled mode. Even empty databases fall into this category.

Disabled mode is new in Access, but is not new to Office. Other Office applications such as Word and Excel have been capable of opening ...